A downhole tool may be run into a wellbore. The downhole tool may include a mud motor and a drill bit. To drill the wellbore to greater depths, a drilling fluid may be pumped through the downhole tool from a surface location. The drilling fluid may flow through the mud motor in the downhole tool, which may cause the mud motor to rotate the drill bit. Rotation of the drill bit may dislodge cuttings from the surrounding formation, and the drilling fluid and the cuttings may flow back up to the surface through an annulus formed between the downhole tool and a wall of the wellbore.
Once the cuttings and drilling fluid reaches the surface, the cuttings and the fluid may be introduced to a shaker, which may remove a portion of the liquid (e.g., drilling fluid, water, hydrocarbons) from the cuttings.
The liquid that is separated from the cuttings may have fine particles dispersed therein. For example, the fine particles may make up about 30% of the volume of the liquid that is separated from the cuttings, causing the liquid to be very viscous. This liquid can be introduced into a centrifuge; however, the liquid may be too viscous for the centrifuge to remove the desired amount of particles from the liquid.